Success Story

Altoona Middle

Altoona School District

Grade Level: MiddleProfile: January 2012

Our PBIS Story

One problem we identified was disrespect toward substitute teachers. When looking at the Big 5, we did not notice a problem because there were only three office discipline referrals (ODRs) during the first month from substitutes. However, after further analyzing the ODR data, we realized that classroom teachers were writing ODRs for disrespect toward substitutes. Substitutes received no information about PBIS. We didn’t pre-teach expectations or model the appropriate behaviors for students with substitutes.

We created a cool tool for classroom teachers to use before a planned absence and gave each substitute an overview of PBIS. We identified orange tickets from our rewards system to be given only by substitute teachers to acknowledge students who demonstrate the expectations. These tickets are put into a weekly “Sub from a Sub” drawing for a coupon to use at our neighborhood Subway store. After implementation, referrals went from 11 the first month down to one referral during the second and the third months. Grade-level teams now meet with individual students who have been disrespectful toward a substitute and re-teach the expectations with parent involvement.

The Wisconsin PBIS Center is a collaborative project between the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and the CESA Statewide Network.

The Wisconsin PBIS Network (CFDA #84.027) acknowledges the support of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction in the development of this website and for the continued support of this federally-funded grant program. There are no copyright restrictions on this document; however, please credit the Wisconsin DPI and support of federal funds when copying all or part of this material.